IonQ (NYSE:IONQ) Stock Price Up 4.5% – Should You Buy?

Shares of IonQ, Inc. (NYSE:IONQ) traded up 4.5% on Monday . The stock traded as high as $48.57 and last traded at $48.1620. 47,366,835 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 99% from the average session volume of 23,842,484 shares. The stock had previously closed at $46.09.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $37.00 target price on shares of IonQ in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on IonQ from $47.00 to $42.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Northland Securities assumed coverage on IonQ in a research report on Monday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $55.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen cut IonQ from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, April 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price target on shares of IonQ from $80.00 to $65.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, February 26th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $68.25.

IonQ Stock Up 4.5%

The company has a market capitalization of $17.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -19.34 and a beta of 2.80. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $33.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $45.93.

Insider Activity

In other IonQ news, Director William J. Teuber, Jr. acquired 3,000 shares of IonQ stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 27th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $38.38 per share, with a total value of $115,140.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 9,413 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $361,270.94. The trade was a 46.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John W. Raymond sold 2,800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.34, for a total value of $93,352.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 83,963 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,799,326.42. This represents a 3.23% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 8,581 shares of company stock valued at $316,156. 5.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in IONQ. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in shares of IonQ by 12.5% during the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 134,176 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,962,000 after buying an additional 14,898 shares during the last quarter. Amundi acquired a new position in shares of IonQ during the first quarter valued at about $630,000. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of IonQ by 106.2% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 57,305 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,265,000 after buying an additional 29,513 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its position in shares of IonQ by 24.1% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 450,031 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,932,000 after buying an additional 87,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of IonQ by 30.3% during the first quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 46,782 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,032,000 after buying an additional 10,881 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 41.42% of the company’s stock.

IonQ Company Profile

IonQ, Inc engages in the development of general-purpose quantum computing systems in the United States. It sells access to quantum computers of various qubit capacities. The company makes access to its quantum computers through cloud platforms, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Amazon Braket, Microsoft’s Azure Quantum, and Google’s Cloud Marketplace, as well as through its cloud service. It also provides contracts associated with the design, development, and construction of specialized quantum computing hardware systems; maintenance and support services; and consulting services related to co-developing algorithms on quantum computing systems.